The Pearl River Community College Young Americans for Liberty will be hosting a debate on Oct. 11 preceding the special election for the open Mississippi District 106 legislative seat.

The debate will be held at the Brownstone Center for the Arts at 6 p.m. that day.

The District 106 seat was left open after former Rep. Herb Frierson was appointed commissioner of the Department of Revenue.

Currently, the qualified candidates are John Glen Corley, Larry D. Davis, Greg Holcomb, Daniel Wise and Ben Winston, according to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s website. The qualifying deadline is Oct. 10.

Young Americans for Liberty President Dalton Traylor said the debate will be moderated by PRCC political science professor Jason Ramshur.

Traylor said that so far Winston and Wise will be participating in the debate; Holcomb, and Davis have yet to confirm whether they will participate.

Traylor said Corley indicated that he was not interested.

The Young Americans for Liberty at PRCC try to organize a political event on campus every year, Traylor said.

This year the group was originally planning to host a debate between faculty members, but with the upcoming special election and Traylor’s role as Wise’s campaign manager inspired them to host this public event, he said.

The debate will ask candidates about their positions on popular state issues such as economic development, regulating businesses and the state flag, as well as controversial issues like abortion and same-sex marriage, Traylor said.

As a young political group, Traylor said, these types of events are necessary to gather attention and participation in local elections because of the entertainment value they provide.

“This is America and states have rights; most of the decisions made that are going to affect us are going to be made on the state level,” Traylor said. “I feel like state elections get overshadowed by the national elections, but these are going to affect us more.”

The event is expected to last about an hour and a half, depending on time allotted for guest speakers, Traylor said.

The event is open and free to the public.